Early in the fight, Perez popped inside and out, jabbing at Paris’ body and launching left hooks that did some damage. Then in the later rounds, Perez landed some overhand rights that snapped Paris’ head back.

Earlier pre-fight post: One of the best bouts in the 2012 season of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” saw Denver’s Manny Perez earn an upset of Edgar Santana in Delaware. His tough left hook over and over won him the fight by unanimous decision.

Perez (19-8-1) returns to ESPN on Friday (tonight) for a nationally-televised bout against Miami’s Vernon Paris (27-1). The fights are scheduled to air on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.

The 28-year-old Denver boxer is likely another underdog against Paris. But that hasn’t stopped him before.

Perez is a great story. He works two jobs when he’s not boxing out of the Grudge Training Center in Wheat Ridge with Jake Ramos.

In July of last year, he traveled to Cancun, Mexico, to beat Jose Miguel Cotto (brother of three-division champion Miguel Cotto) by split decision.

In his last bout, Perez won by unanimous decision over Bernardo Guereca at Red and Jerry’s in Sheridan. He’s won three of his past four bouts, falling only to Paul McCloskey by decision in front of McCloskey’s home crowd in Belfast, Ireland.

In 2008, Perez fought Brandon Rios to a 10-round draw in Denver. It was the only mark against Rios’ record until Denver’s Mike Alvarado beat Rios by unanimous decision in March.

Paris is coming off a tune-up bout in February, a third-round TKO of Guy Packer in Michigan. But before that, he hadn’t fought for nearly a year, after lost by ninth-round TKO to Zab Judah in Brooklyn.